Numerous studies using self-report

Numerous studies using self-report indicate that normative fears generally subside with age. One possibility is that as children mature they are better able to extinguish previously learned associations thus resulting in more effective regulation of their emotions. As a result, developmental differences in the ability to extinguish fear may be more pronounced throughout childhood and adolescence. However, few studies examine the differences in extinction of learned fear behaviors in typically developing children. Four studies that examined fear extinction found expected patterns of extinction in paradigms that utilized geometric shapes (CS) and aversive tones (UCS) in both SCR and self-reported ratings . Extinction learning was less strong in paradigms that have used social stimuli such as affective faces. In one study, adolescents were presented with gender and age matched photographs of neutral expressions (CS) that were followed by three socially-valenced UCS. Extinction results showed less self-reported fear to negative CS+ relative to the neutral and positive CS+, although results did not return to pre-acquisition baseline levels. As evidenced in these findings, poor extinction of CR may be associated with social stimuli such as affective faces that unlike other stimuli used in fear conditioning paradigms could not be considered neutral.

Six studies compared anxious and non-anxious children in extinction. In 4 studies, anxious children showed resistance to within-session extinction as indicated by higher levels of CR to the CS+ than the CS−. In another study both anxious and non-anxious children showed extinction, however in yet a different study both groups failed to show extinction. In addition, anxious children showed higher levels of fear to both CS+ and CS− relative to non-anxious children, as indicated by self-report. Finally, some differences in brain activation were reported, with anxious children showing lower sub-genual anterior cingulate (sgACC) activation compare to their healthy counterpart while performing an extinction recall task .

Some studies have found inconsistencies between physiological results and subjective verbal ratings, primarily within anxious pediatric samples. For instance, one study reported discrepancies during initial phases of extinction between self-reported measures of UCS expectancies and physiological measures of SCR and FPS. Findings have also revealed that anxious children show resistance to extinction, as measured by SCR, and no differences on self-reported measures of arousal relative to controls. Finally, Britton et al. found anxious adolescents report more fear to the CS+ and CS− during conditioning and extinction phases while no differences emerged in SCR or FPS when compared to non-anxious adolescents.